Pasta aglio e olio, or pasta with garlic and oil, is always simple. There are just six ingredients, pasta (with the accompanying water,) salt, garlic, olive oil, cheese, and a sprinkling of red chili flakes for garnish. It’s a simple dish brought to life by the quality of the ingredients and an elegant application of knowledge and technique. Dishes like this are why Italian chefs are revered and that’s exactly what BadaBloom! wants to bring to the Massachusetts cannabis industry – a passion and attention to detail that makes Italian food and wine arguably the best in the world.
Business is BadaBloom’in
BadaBloom! is a vertically integrated social equity craft cannabis company that is slowly working on its vision to increase the quality and reputation of Massachusetts cannabis through high-end flower and hash rosin. For Michael Marinaro, founder and CEO of Bada Bloom!, cannabis is first and foremost a medicinal herb and he wants BadaBloom’s ethos to reflect that. Marinaro is a first-generation Italian-American whose family grew wine in Potenza, a southern Italian province in the Basilicata region.
TantAtennta is the process Marinaro implements at BadaBloom! to ensure everything grown or processed is done with the highest expression of technique and care. TantAtennta is all about using a few important ingredients to make something spectacular. Live soil, water, sunlight, care, and diligent attention to detail that goes into the cultivation process.
Marinaro wants to operate a five-week perpetual harvest cycle to keep the product fresh. There will be a laser focus on the curing process to preserve each strain’s vigor. Marinaro says there is far too much old product sitting on dispensary shelves in Massachusetts. He wants his flower and rosin to help elevate the standards of the entire Massachusetts market.
“Yes, we are an indoor grow but everything under that light, we’re using old school methods,” Marinaro said. This means they plant seeds in live soil, hand water, hand fertilize, hand trim, etc. But they also combine old-school methods with advanced technology like water-cooled LED lights and modern innovations of indoor cultivation like moveable beds and temperature-controlled facilities.
The Potenza Riserva is BadaBloom!’s small batch genetics that fuels the flower and high-end hash rosin. The name pays homage to the Marinaro family and their heritage of grape growers and winemakers in southern Italy.
The following strains will be released through the Potenza Riserva when BadaBloom! fully comes online and they were selected from seed by Marinaro and his team.
BadaBloom! Strain Lineup
Brawno (London Pound Cake x (Runtz x Trufflez) – bred by Aficinado.
Rogue One (Starfighter x Star Killer) – bred by In-House Genetics.
Irene’s Papaya (Irene’s OG x Papaya) – bred by Full Cooked Seed Co.
Dubble Sour Dog ( Sour Dubble x 4DD j) – bred by People Under the Stairs Genetics.
Sweet Blueberry Yum Yum (Black Durban x DJ Short Blueberry x Sweet Tooth) – bred by Blue Bloods Grow.
Lime Freezer (Key Lime Pie X Fried Ice Cream X Grandpa’s Gunchest) – bred by Cannarado.
Grapes & Hash Rosin by BadaBloom!
The similarities between wine and hash rosin are more encompassing than you might think, the same way grapes are squished and processed into wine, bubble hash is pressed and processed into hash rosin.
“I believe the effect and the high is just so much cleaner,” Marinaro said, explaining why he wants high-end hash rosin to be a staple of BadaBloom!’s Potenza Riserva.
“You know, it’s something that my family did for so long – incorporating that into cannabis, this is the purest way that you’re going to get an extract off the plant by only using ice and water, heat and pressure and really getting those flavors through,” he continued.
The quest to press the freshest hash rosin is akin to the process of perfecting an excellent bottle of wine. The starting product must be perfect, and the production process must be timed and executed perfectly with every variable accounted for. The result is an expression of technique through exquisite flavor. Whether it’s wine or hash rosin, when done correctly, you taste the essence of the plant, the water, the soil, the sunlight, and the hard work that brought it to life.
“I have personally never tasted strains like this in my life!” Marinaro exclaimed. “I love getting that last feel, that last squeeze, it’s like squishing a grape to me.”
Bringing Italy to Cannabis
A substantial part of their initial brand launch relies on the help of legendary Italian-American actor Vincent Pastore AKA Big Pussy from The Sopranos. Pastore will be hosting Baking Bad presented by BadaBloom!.
The cannabis-inspired internet show will be reminiscent of an old VICE TV show called Bong Appetit which explored cannabis culture through culinary endeavors. Baking Bad was created by Joe Cantor and Danny Provenzano and is powered by BadaBloom! cannabis. The show will be a celebration of everything cannabis culture and Italia.
Marinaro and the BadaBloom! team are focused on honing the cultivation operations and retail experience until manufacturing is 100 percent operational at the end of 2024. They also have a retail location set to open soon in Plymouth, Massachusetts next year in 2025.
Stay tuned for more updates on BadaBloom!’s retail location and other product announcements.
